SpaceX Falcon 9 historic landing thread (1st landing attempt & most recent missions)

EXPjawa said:

Abort at T-0:09...No joy.

No recycling the switches and trying again today. It appeared to be an automated abort prior to engine start sequence, no info was presented as to the cause. Only that they'll look at the data and decide what the next launch window will be. May or may not be tomorrow, depending on what they find. Personally, I think someone has to run out to the pad and install a new ignitor...

Click to expand...

Lmao - Good stuff.......

Has any video of the Bulgariasat landing on OCISLY been released yet?

Any explanation on yesterday's scrub, reasons other than "the computer saw something out of range and halted the countdown"?

Launch is GO for today, at 7:37 PM EDT. No news on the cause of the abort Sunday, other than it was "GNC" related (Guidance, Navigation/Control). Presumably they've fixed it, or are allowing a count for today to proceed while they try to fix it.

"Following scrub for a guidance abort on the first attempt, SpaceX is now targeting launch of Intelsat 35e from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, July 3, at 7:37 p.m. EDT, or 23:37 UTC. The launch window will remain open for 58 minutes and the satellite will be deployed approximately 32 minutes after launch."

Click to expand...

Weather is 70% GO, and it seems July 4th is a back-up date.

Big complication at the Cape is that they are standing down the whole range for the month of July, for various work. So if they do not fly soon, there is a possibility they may not fly this until August. Although this launch was originally scheduled to be later so there may be some wiggle room, but not a lot.

New webcast link:

[video=youtube;ASbCLpWDPV4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASbCLpWDPV4[/video]

Aborted at T-10 seconds.

Aborted at T-9 seconds. they already pushed it to the end of the launch window to get better weather, so no they're done for today and figuring out if they can launch tomorrow.

Dang it! What a beautiful evening to launch!

Another GNC right at the same count, rats.

Same fault, I wonder?

Don't know if it was the same sort of thing or not.

Very ironic that when they did a Static Firing, they also treat the vehicle like it is a real launch, except for the hold downs being released (and there is no payload or fairing on the static tests). So the GNC issue from Sunday apparently was fine for the static test last Thursday.

In any case:

SpaceX update. Trying again tomorrow.

"Standing down for today's launch due to a violation of abort criteria--the vehicle and payload remain in good health. The next launch opportunity for Intelsat 35e from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is Tuesday, July 4, at 7:37 p.m. EDT, or 23:37 UTC. The launch window will remain open for 58 minutes and the satellite will be deployed approximately 32 minutes after launch."

Click to expand...

Weather 70-80% GO for the 4th.

So, pending any announcement otherwise, currently SpaceX is planning to launch on Tuesday the 4th.

UPDATE - See the announcement otherwise in the next message, NOT the 4th

If people believe in jinxes, then maybe it's my fault. Both days, I was occupied elsewhere, no chance to see it live as I nearly always do. Indeed, trying to avoid spoilers, I fast-forwarded the Monday webcast to shortly before launch (But I already saw the duration of the webcast was around 22 minutes. So I knew it either did not take off or something worse happened as per CRS-7's "Th-th-th-that's All Folks!" rapid ending of the webcast shortly after the vehicle broke up).

When it aborted at T-9 seconds, I thought "Crap - somebody listed Sunday's old webcast link as Monday's and I posted the wrong one on TRF". Then I found out later it was the right video, same result.

Anyway, I expect to be available to see it live on the 4th, so.......

OK, NOT the 4th.

Very late Tuesday night Musk tweet:

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/882117255407980545

We're going to spend the 4th doing a full review of rocket & pad systems. Launch no earlier than 5th/6th. Only one chance to get it right …

Click to expand...

The one chance to get it right he refers to is that apparently the whole Eastern Test Range (Cape Canaveral and KSC) will be down for the rest of July with no launches by anyone.

Post by Chris Bergin on NSF:

SpaceX is requesting the 5th from the Eastern Range, per an e-mail to the media just now. That's a bit more definitive than 5th or 6th, per it being an update.

Click to expand...

The Falcon has been lowered to horizontal at 39A. They might do the fix at the pad, as they did for an issue earlier this year. If they rolled it back into the HIF (Hangar), might take too long to try for the 5th.

Meanwhile.... aboard ISS on Monday.....



That streak in the lower left is the re-entering CRS-11 Dragon that was launched in May, and landed safely Monday in the Pacific, west of California.

Story: "Dragon Returns Space Station Science to Earth"

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/dragon-returns-space-station-science-to-earth


Larger cropped view:

No official news.

But, the F9 was horizontal for some time today at 39A, presumably to be worked on.

Now it is vertical in launch position again. So they must be satisfied they fixed it, otherwise they'd have kept it horizontal or rolled it back to the HIF.

So, they my well be planning to launch on the 5th. No time announced of course but the window would likely open around the same time as before, a couple of minutes later. So, pencil about in 7:38-ish PM EDT, with a nearly one hour launch window.

No webcast link yet, of course, as they would not post that until officially confirming the launch is the 5th.

Hey Rocky, watch me pull an Intelsat 35e launch out of Pad 39A.....

SpaceX is targeting launch of Intelsat 35e from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, July 5. The launch window opens at 7:37 p.m. EDT, or 23:37 UTC.

Click to expand...

So, same time as before, 7:37 PM, EDT. Today.

I just found this on YouTube. Usually the broadcasts don't start until about 15 min before the launch window opens, but this one is active 6 hours out.

[YOUTUBE]kTYjOplHzpw[/YOUTUBE]

Countdown is progressing.

Webcast link:

[video=youtube;MIHVPCj25Z0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIHVPCj25Z0&feature=watch[/video]

Nice launch. To bad its not coming back to the cape.

Backyard view.

timbucktoo said:

Backyard view.

View attachment 323395

Click to expand...

Wow that's cool! How much noise do you pick up?

Quite a bit if the wind is right. Tonight was great, nice rumble that lasted about 30 seconds. Sometimes the windows rattle!

Borrowed from a poster on SpaceX Facebook.

Felt that way too....

With three launches in ten (or was it twelve) days,
a total of 10 launches so far this year (the previous record for an entire year was eight),
and Intelsat being the heaviest payload they have ever delivered to geosynchronous transfer orbit, and at that, a higher orbit than predicted,
this week was quite the feather in SpaceX's cap.

They're really on a roll.

Tim and Bill,,
That's way too cool that you guy's can see the launch from your home's..
How far are you from the Cape ??
This is so wonderful..
History is being written..
A 14K lb payload ??
That's just huge..

Teddy

Onebadhawk said:

Tim and Bill,,
That's way too cool that you guy's can see the launch from your home's..
How far are you from the Cape ??
Teddy

Click to expand...

I'm about 15 miles as the crow flies. Bill might be a bit closer.

timbucktoo said:

I'm about 15 miles as the crow flies. Bill might be a bit closer.

Click to expand...

Wow,, 15 miles,,
you can see ignition ?? no ??
That's way too cool..
I always wanted to see a shuttle launch and never got the chance...
Good for you guy's...

Teddy

Intelsat 35e booster landing photo:








Or maybe a whale playing around.....

I live about 5 minutes from that spot I took the pictures. That pad is way north from the others. We can see ignition with binoculars but hard to see with the eye's.

Onebadhawk said:

Wow,, 15 miles,,
you can see ignition ?? no ??
That's way too cool..
I always wanted to see a shuttle launch and never got the chance...
Good for you guy's...

Teddy

Click to expand...

From my house at ground level, too far for ignition. I'm only about 6 feet above sea level.

Orlando Sentinel is reporting that fire crews responded to a fire at a SpaceX building today, but little detail as what happened. Anyone hear anything more?

EXPjawa said:

Orlando Sentinel is reporting that fire crews responded to a fire at a SpaceX building today, but little detail as what happened. Anyone hear anything more?

Click to expand...

Sounds like roofing on an unoccupied building caught on fire during installation which involved a torch to lay it down. Fire was put out, no injuries, doesn't sound like any of the rockets were harmed. No word on if this will delay the Falcon Heavy another 3 months or not.